Monday 26 January 2015

Paddington

Mum took the kids and I to see Paddington at the weekend.  We all loved it!  It was very funny, and sweet.  It had some dramatic moments too (Meg practically jumped into my lap at one bit).    
We'll definitely get it on DVD.



I finished some socks.  They're lovely.


Busy busy this week, next update will be Friday.

Friday 23 January 2015

Ice ice baby.

We had a quiet day at home yesterday. Fred is very much into GTA5, and has completed 30% of the game.  

Betsy and Meg did various things together.  Meg got out the tap tap set, and Betsy spent ages making a pattern.


They set up a game where Betsy hid various cuddly toys around the house, and Meg had to find them.  Betsy drew a checklist of the animals to find, and gave Meg clues about where they were.  It was fab, and they both had a lot of fun.



Betsy likes to write as part of their games, either typing (like her Minecraft book), or with pens (like treasure maps or checklists).  

Meg had a GP appointment this morning, to review her inhaler use and to get a repeat prescription.  It doesn't look like she has asthma or need to use the preventative one on a regular basis, so that's good.  After that I had a couple of errands to run - post office, chemist, a few bits from the shop - and the kids were really patient.  I was grateful for it!

After lunch we walked to the swimming pool to meet up with two other home ed families.  The walk was lovely, the canal was frozen over.  The kids chucked sticks and stones and enjoyed watching them skid across the ice.  Fred managed to break the ice with a rock, and we watched a large air bubble form and then escape through the hole.







Further along we said hello to the swans and watched the duck slipping and sliding on the ice. Meg spotted some frozen duck poo!  Fred broke some ice from the canal surface and picked it up.




Swimming was great.  Afterwards we stopped at the playground for a little while.







On the way home Fred lobbed a stick into the canal and it landed like a javelin!


Home now, fire lit, Betsy playing Minecraft at Jarvis's house, Fred playing GTA5, Meg watching Pokemon.

Wednesday 21 January 2015

Fire in the woods

Zoe invited us over to her house for a woodland day - hanging out in the woods behind her house, fire lighting, toasting marshmallows.  Nice.

We played inside to begin with, while we waited for the other families to arrive.  Fred and Billy played Halo on the xbox (first time Fred has been in the same room as an xbox).  Betsy created a farm with a barn on Minecraft.  Meg set up a world with the Playmobil, and played with some play dough.





After lunch we went outside.  Meg and another girl T helped Zoe build the fire, adding straw under the kindling.  Fred and Zoe lit it with matches (I forgot to pick up his flint and steel).



Then it was a marshmallow fest!  All the kids had toasted some.  When we'd eaten enough they burnt some directly on the fire, and it was interesting to watch how it changed shape and bubbled.






As the fire died down, Fred picked up a partially burnt piece of wood and wrote his name on a log.


The kids played inside some more - lego, minecraft, play dough.  I drank lots of tea.

Tuesday 20 January 2015

Gaming, family, art and friends

It's been a pretty relaxed few days.  We visited a family in Milton Keynes.  Fred was excited as one of the kids had GTA5.  And lots of other PS3 games that he liked.  They had a blast - playing, laughing, jumping around.



They had some really great toys to play with too.  A cute little shop that Betsy and Meg loved, Minecraft Lego, a car race track.  We all played and played.








As usual Minecraft has featured heavily.  Betsy has been writing a book on in Minecraft on the laptop.  The girls frequently collaborate and create farms, zoos, houses and other structures.



Today Betsy made a log flume.


I had a day out with a friend on Saturday (birthday treat).  We met at the Tate Modern.  It was excellent.  We went to two exhibitions - Conflict, Time Photography (bleak, important) and Sigmar Polke (eccentric, funny).  I absoutely love the south bank, and thoroughly enjoyed wandering along the river from Embankment to the gallery.

On the way I managed to do some knitting on the train, and watch the very light sprinkling of snow fall.











On Sunday we had a family get together at my mum's, along with Duncan, Jazz and their lovely kids.  We don't them very often.  

Yesterday Fred spent some of his Christmas money on GTA5.  And he's played it a lot, yesterday and today.  He's very happy!

Betsy and Meg painted a tea set that Meg got for Christmas.